Can You Shrink a Liv Wig?

In my Fun and Failure with Acetone post, Lane recently asked:

"Gostaria de saber se com a acetona pura poderia encolher perucas Liv para servir na boneca Barbie ? Comprei algumas perucas, moro no Brasil e não sabia o tamanho da Liv, quando chegaram as perucas a diferença de tamanho é enorme. Poderia fazer este experimento com as perucas da boneca Liv ????"

"I wonder if with pure acetone could shrink Liv wigs to serve Barbie doll? I bought some wigs, I live in Brazil and did not know the size of Liv, when they reached the wigs the size difference is huge. Could do this experiment with Liv doll wigs????"

My response was:

"Oi, Lane! Eu nunca tentei encolher uma peruca Liv, mas vou dar-lhe uma tentativa! Volte em cerca de 10 dias e vou postar os resultados. Porque eles são dois tipos diferentes de plástico, na verdade eu suspeito que a peruca vai derreter, mas acho que vamos descobrir. ^__^"

"Hi, Lane! I never tried to shrink a Liv wig, but I'll give it a try. Come back in about 10 days and I will post the results. Because they are two different types of plastic, I actually suspect that the wig will melt but I guess we'll find out. ^__^"

So, the experiment is complete and the short answer to Lane's question is no, you cant shrink a Liv wig with pure acetone. Here are the results:

Summer is going to assist us. She's holding a Sophie Liv wig with the prong removed and demonstrates that indeed it's too big for a Barbie head. First off, if your doll's hair is long, the wig wont fit anyway, so I gave Summer a quick haircut.

Now that the wig cap can encompass her head completely, let's talk numbers and see what we are actually working with.

From temple to temple, Barbie's head is 1.5 inches and the Liv wig is 2.0. In order for a Liv wig to fit a Barbie head it has to be shrunk at least half an inch. With time and multiple dips you can shrink a vinyl head half an inch (sometimes). However, as I said before and not to get all technical, the composite material of a vinyl head and a plastic wig are different, so you wont get the same results.

First I put the wig in a solution of 1/2 cup pure acetone and 1/2 cup water and left it in there for exactly 48 hours. Upon taking it out, the only noticeable difference is that the opacity of the plastic changed from see through to white. The plastic did not absorb any of the liquid and the texture of the wig, which was rough to the touch anyway, stayed the same.

After being out of the solution for 3 days, the opacity changed back to clear, but there was no shrinkage of the wig whatsoever. And now, going on 7 days, there has still been no change to the wig using 50% pure acetone. So, let's give 100% a try. WARNING: There's a gross photo below, so hold something over the right side of the screen if you don't want to see it.

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Using another Sophie wig, I put it in 100% acetone for exactly 24 hours. As suspected, it melted the plastic into a disgusting mess. Now, before anyone says I left it in too long, I checked every hour for 6 hours to see how it was fairing. The key to shrinking is that the material absorbs the acetone and then as it dries and dissipates, the material shrinks in on itself. If it doesn't absorb, then nothing happens. The plastic didn't absorb anything, it just decomposed.

Lane specifically asked about "pure acetone," so that's what I used instead of nail polish remover. Remover wont melt it, but I don't think it will shrink it either. If someone out there has tried it and successfully shrunk a Liv wig, please let us know!

Sorry, Lane!